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Reinhold Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes

Theologian

Reinhold Niebuhr was a prominent American theologian whose work on Christian ethics and social ethics had a profound impact on the 20th century. He was a key figure in theological discourse, particularly for his exploration of the nature of sin and the church's role in society. Niebuhr's theological thought has influenced various Christian denominations and has had a lasting effect on political and social thought.

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Famous Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes

“I think I should know how to educate a boy, but not a girl; I should be in danger of making her too learned.”

Thinking Knows Should Girl Education Boys Know How Danger Educate

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“A church has the right to set its own standards within its community. I don't think it has a right to prohibit birth control or to enforce upon a secular society its conception of divorce and the indissolubility of the marriage tie.”

Thinking Community Church Birth Standards Divorce Ties Conception Secular Birth Control Secular Society

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I think that the achievements of Catholicism on race are very, very impressive.”

Thinking Race Achievement Catholicism Impressive Very Impressive

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I've long ago felt, I have many Jewish friends and I very I think creative Jewish friends, and I've long felt that the average Christian didn't realize the tremendous capacity for civic righteousness among our Jewish people.”

People Thinking Long Christian Felt Realizing Creative Capacity Average Righteousness Long Ago Civics Jewish Friends

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I know that the Communists are atheistic and godless, but I don't think that that's what's primarily the matter with them. What's primarily the matter with them is that they worship a false god. That's much more dangerous than when people don't believe anything; they may be confused, they may not have a sense of the meaning of life, but they're not dangerous.”

People Thinking Knows Believe May Matter Dangerous Worship Don't Believe Confused Meaning Of Life Communist Atheistic False Gods

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“All this talk about atheistic materialism and God-fearing American I think is beside the point; it's a rather vapid form of religion.”

Thinking Form Materialism Atheistic Vapid

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I think that the Christian faith is right as against simple forms of secularism. That it believes that there is in man a radical freedom, and this freedom is creative but it is also destructive. And there's nothing that prevents this from being both creative and destructive.”

Thinking Men Believe Christian Form Simple Creative Radical Destructive Secularism Christian Faith

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I think there is and ultimate answer in a true religious faith, but it doesn't give you any immediate answers, it doesn't.”

Thinking Giving Religious Answers Ultimate Religious Faith

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I think I have one answer, that is partly religious and partly secular; and that is to say, we ought to at least recognize that we and the Russians are in a common predicament. That would be religious in the sense, "Judge not lest you be judged."”

Thinking Would Be Religious Answers Common Judging Ought Judged Secular Predicaments

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Politics deals with a common-sense approach to the imponderables of history, that I think are obscured by a certain kind of rationalism.”

Thinking Kind Certain Deals Common Approach Common Sense Rationalism

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I think that when we believe that something is right, there's a serious ambivalence about it. On one hand, you say, because it's right, it must be victorious. On the other hand, you say, it's right whether it's victorious or not. And this is what I believe about a free society.”

Thinking Believe Hands I Believe Serious Free Society Ambivalence

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I think there ought to be a club in which preachers and journalists could come together and have the sentimentalism of the one matched with the cynicism of the other. That ought to bring them pretty close to the truth.”

Thinking Together Ought Clubs Journalism Journalist Cynicism Preacher Matched

Book:Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics: (Library of America #263)

Source: Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics: (Library of America #263)